"Old" People Writing for Teens V

Thanks, Coffee! I need more of that in my life for sure. I will update my calendar for the next one!

And good luck, Fitchett, sounds like you have a good perspective around some tough developments! Hang in there.

CoffeeBeans said:

When I feel like I'm losing my way, I make KiwiLady talk over my MS with me in painful detail until I feel well enough to continue, but everyone has a process

Click to expand...

Always happy to help out.

JFitchett92 said:

My manager gave me a pep-talk and told me to get up and prove myself again, essentially turning my working life into a kind of redemption story (another colleague called it my "end of season plotline"). I've still got my team, and they've got my back, so I'm hoping this is just a blip and that the summer (wherever it is) holds better things for me.

Click to expand...

Sorry you're having trouble at work JFitchett, but that line (bolded) made me laugh out loud - it's very apt. Hope you can figure everything out and get your work life sorted.

In non-writing news, our family is taking a big trip in a few months to Europe. Over the weekend I was looking over the accommodation details for London and found that the travel agent has essentially used a booking agent for this, so although the photos online make the accommodation look amazing, the reviews say otherwise (as in, the accommodation could be anywhere in London depending what they have available those nights, some units have homeless people fighting all night outside the accommodation and other units talk about drug paraphernalia being left out the door - I'm taking my kids, not what I'm after). I've asked the travel agent to change it and have ignored the place on her confirmation that says the accommodation is non-refundable due to the fact that I should be able to trust that she is booking something reputable. Worse still, she seems to have done the same thing in with our Paris accommodation. I'm now waiting for her to phone and tell me I will lose the NZ$5000 I've paid for both rooms if I want to make this change. I'm so angry with myself, especially because I used to be a travel agent - I could have looked further into this before we paid, but I trusted she would put us somewhere she knew rather than just pluck something off the internet. Also, if I wanted to spend hours looking into accommodation options, I would have done it all myself rather than using her.

Anyway, all that means I'm thinking about things not writing related which means there currently aren't many words going on the page. I'm hoping she'll call soon and I can stop stressing over this.

KiwiLady I have had something similar happen to me before. I've booked some trips for me and the missus and we've been given random accommodation for a lower price. One of them we only saved a few pounds and it was pretty far from where we needed to be, but the other was a central 5* hotel and we got it for about 60% off!

I appreciate it's not exactly the same situation as you've paid a lot more, but getting random hotels can sometimes surprise you as you might get better than you were expecting.

Good luck with it.

Kiwi, that's terrible news for your trip! Reviews are a mixed bag though. One bad night/bad experience leads to a negative review and people are much less inclined to review when things are good/okay. Location is important, and in most cases, you'll only be in the hotel for a couple hours before heading out again in the morning to your next attraction.

Hopefully your agent can make the changes, but if not, hold out hope. If anything is below expectation when you get to your hotel, make it clear to the staff, and hopefully they will do everything they can to make it right. (all of this said through the lens of a lifetime as the child of hotel people)

The unexpected full has become a new problem. The agent emailed again this morning like she thought I might have not received her other email. I feel like the WORST person. This weekend was a killer (the girls did great - made one round into the playoffs and won both a team and individual award!) and I came home sick Sunday night. I think I just have to send what I have. It should be clean and pretty close to where it's going to be after another pass anyway.

Haha don't I hope so? But I doubt that Sage.... She had an out of office up when I sent the query and she replied around it, so I am going with she figured she'd have it waiting when she got back and figured the request didn't send through? Considering I've been getting some pretty lackluster Rs, I can't imagine she's desperate for it. It's nice to imagine she's got one eye on her inbox though!

Update: It's sent. Cue quiet sobbing. I spent like an hour trying to remember how I had to change the settings on scrivener. Cold meds are serious business...

Good luck Coffeebeans. It is probably fabulous to have her chase you down for it.

JFitchett, sorry about the work drama. I have a hard time shaking off those kind of things. Good thing people have short memories and it is only one blip. They probably remember your integrity for stepping up and taking the blame. That is a rare thing.

JKRowley It was actually a really strange experience. Whenever something like that usually happens, my worst trait comes out and I argue. But this time was different, like it actually wasn't me at all. And I'm not really hung up on it either.

So strange subject but one of my favourites. Has anyone had any weird dreams lately? I've had a spat of them the last few weeks and I'm trying to wrap my head around them.

Weird dreams are great for coming up with new plot ideas or even an entirely knew manuscript idea. The very first ms I wrote came from a dream. The ms was rubbish, but I still think the idea was sound and some days I'm tempted to go back to it. I haven't had any strange dreams recently...must be too engaged in what I'm currently writing,

I've had a lot of those dreams I want to go back to when I wake up. Some of them weird, some just fun, and some of them somewhere in between. I remember one of those had pirates, including Jack Sparrow and Hook (as played by Jason Isaacs), and an island with Jareth, the Goblin King, and Tom Hiddleston's Loki.

I think the weirdest dream I ever had was a few days after my surgery, while I was still doped up and such. I don't remember much of it now, only that it was very trippy.

In other news, I just found out that my current job will cease to exist come May. So that's fun.

Thanks, Sage. It's been crazy, though. I found out yesterday, so I decided to apply for this job I saw listed a couple of days ago. I got them my resume yesterday evening, and they just called and set up an interview for Monday. I'm kind of freaking out. Like, my hands are shaking so much I'm having a hard time typing. Oh, and this job is located three hours north of me, so if I get it, it means moving. I've moved before, but never out of my hometown.

A need to broaden my horizons, really strike out on my own, and experience life is a good place to start. Although the fact that I need to find a new job by the time this one ends is stressful and kind of scary, it's also a chance for me to get out of my hometown. I'm not even looking for jobs here. There's no room for growth.

Good luck Bookgirl! I think saying you aren't even looking in your town and are hopeful for the opportunity to move will help win them over.

I'm signed up for Camp Nano, but I've still got one eye on the previous MS which I might query 'any day now' (really not, other than pitmad because I'm staring at my inbox waiting for responses even though I know I shouldn't be). I feel so unproductive. Anyone else Camping for april?

Also, my home internet has been out more than it's been working since like Jan. I might have to buy real internet and this is making me very unhappy.

ETA: (because I hate replying to my own post...) I've been having one of those nagging thoughts. Is there an idea/type of idea that's always on your "I should write that" list that you never actually write? I don't mean the "I wanted to write this specific plot since I was 10 years old, and one of these days I will" but more in the "I always wanted to write a novel about pirates!"

This comes up in my mind every time I start plotting a new MS and it's not a YA about sports. I've worked in sports in some form or another since I was 17, and I always thought "I'll totally use all this info to write an MS one day" and somehow that day has still not come.

CoffeeBeans I have too many ideas that I want to write. I've always wanted to dabble with time travel though, although more in a horrible, dark, life changing for the worst way...

There are no happy endings where I'm concerned.

On another note, I watched Annihilation last night. It's fantastic, freaky and kind of lovecraftian in it's own way. I highly recommend it. Deeply disturbing at points though so be warned...

Sage said:

I'm 2 hours away from my flight! Then I'll be headed to the UK!

Last chance to make recs for London, Bath, or Edinburgh areas

Click to expand...

I'm going to leave the lurking shadows to say you should walk up Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. Windy, but worth it. Have a blast.

Sage I loved the book, but felt the film was lacking in so many ways. They sucked out all of the character development and didn't put enough focus on what was happening in the world around them. That, and the huge info dump at the beginning was almost cringe worthy.

I'm so glad NaNo is months away because I've got another idea I want to explore. I came up with it ages ago but had no idea what to do with it, but a few days ago I had an epiphany and developed (IMO) a really complex anti-villain. The rest of the story is just falling into place around it.

Now to finish this run through of SL!!!

I read (actually listened to the audiobook of) Ready Player One about two years ago and couldn't get into it, so DNF. Now that so many people talk about how great it is and the movie has come out, I'm going to revisit it, ebook this time so maybe eyes can get into what ears couldn't.

I think streamlining is critical to movie adaptions. See how many subplots and details they've taken out of the Harry Potter books? Still, the worst streamlining I've seen is perhaps Ender's Game. The book is 324 pages according to Wikipedia, and there are shiploads of "tell, not show" and so it can be 900 pages if more "show, don't tell" was done. The movie, IMHO, kept too many nonessential details and didn't have enough of what makes the book great.

Hi all! :wave: I typically poke the sci-fi/fantasy part of the boards, but I'd figure I'd come up and say hi. I write some YA and NA Sci-fi/fantasy with superheroes being my current passion project, and a couple of YA fantasy novels on hiatus while I finish up school. I do plan on going back to them eventually (with one of them being my senior projects idea).

So, sup?

Just popping in This is my first post and this thread intrigued me at first , as title interesting but I don't want to look through 600 comments to figure out what it was about especially when first post a bit vague lol.
I have written a vampire novel, I am 36 so hence my interest in this thread. I have my book set in 90's which everyone tells me to change but I don't want to. So not sure what I will do about that really lol. I mean, the 90's will be what the 60's was ( fascinating ) to use teens in 90's evenatually. Well that's my rambling contribution to the thread . Hope no one wants to argue . I'm too tired lol

Cloudwhite, welcome to AW! If you're an adult writing YA, you're in the right forum.

I strongly suggest spending a little time reading through the FAQ and New Members areas, particularly the sticky posts at the top of each...

Welcome, Siwyenbast and Cloudwhite.

I am currently working on an adult science fiction that perches on space opera, mil scfi, and a whole lot of 'I don't know where it really belongs' subgenres. The next project will be an NA scfi, but lately my mind has been involuntarily brewing a YA romantic fantasy featuring a mage boy and a warrior girl. I might turn that one into a shortie or novella/novelette.

Cloudwhite: vampires are not my cup of blood so I don't know how period setting will affect your novel and its marketing. Among contemporaries, Eleanor and Park is set in the 80's. The reliance on home phone (and lack of mobile phones) works well for the book. So maybe find something unique to the 90s to form a plot requirement/device?